Travel
Take your time and enjoy places without being an automatic sightseeing machine.
Auckland, City of Sails – Harbor Tour
Auckland, New Zealand is called the City of Sails. This is somewhat hard to believe when you walk down Queen Street and around the city. However on a harbor tour, this becomes much more apparent. On my last day in Auckland, we decided to take a harbor tour and saw more why the City of Sails makes sense.
Feldberg – Top of the Black Forest
Feldberg is the tallest mountain the Black Forest, and only an hour and fifteen minutes from Freiburg. It is also a well known local ski area. There are buses from Titisee as well as from Feldberg-Bärental train statoin, the highest in Germany. Years ago as a student, I braved the frosty January air to climb the mountain. I am not a skier, so this was more like snow hiking. I like trains and wanted to see the highest station, so that is the route I took.
Finding a Train Station in Europe
Many backpackers have in their mind to go backpack around Europe for a summer and use the trains. European travel becomes (rightfully) associated with trains. They are usually reliable, if not always punctual. If you plan ahead, they are not dreadfully expensive. Sometimes the problem can be as simple as finding the train station in a foreign language, so here is a short guide.
Steam Engine on an Island : Kingston Flyer
I never expected to see a steam train in New Zealand. I knew they had the modern scenic trains, but I don’t think of the county as train heavy. However a lot of the land was settled and opened up in the age of steam, trains were definitely a part of the landscape. As a part of our bus ride to Milford Sound we stopped at Kingston, the other end of Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown King and Queen, huh?). There we saw the restored Kingston Flyer.
Fiordland Park : Forests, Mountains and Waterfalls
Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound were the highlight sight of my two weeks in New Zealand. There is only one road to Milford Sound and it goes through the Fiordland National Park. The drive through the three valleys and all the stops we did was my favorite part of the trip. Come take a look at this drive.
Christmas in Queenstown
I flew into New Zealand on December 23 by way of a day in Hong Kong. This meant another quick flight (who is afraid of flying now.. um, me still) to Queenstown, which would be our Christmas stop as well as the jumping off to Milford Sound. I was totally looking forward to a Christmas in the summer.
Queenstown from Above
Flying into Queenstown, New Zealand on Christmas Eve,w e decided to do something with our afternoon. We choose the gondola ride up for the view of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding area. The skyline Gondola goes to the top of Bob’s Peak. (It really is called this. Isn’t that cool?) The views of the area are fantastic and you can watch the storms come in. Play in the gift shop and watch others defy death for an afternoon.
Trans Siberian Interview – Katie Going Global
The Trans-Siberian rail journey has been on my list for a long time. When I was still adamant about not flying, I had planned to take it out to see Japan. So when I met Katie at TBEX and she talked about going, I was intrigued to hear how it went. She has now completed the journey and here is my interview with her.
